October 2004, Dortmund and Dusseldorf

The following pictures are of a historic boatlift on the canal to Dortmund harbour. Dortmund harbour is on an elevated section of canal with poor water supply, so heroic engineering efforts were made to preserve water. The original boat lift could transfer boats with minimal use of water (compared with a simple lock). A later effort (also now defunct) was a single lock with 5 side-ponds. In the 1960s (?) a second boat lift was built, but most traffic now goes through a modern lock with two side pounds. I am told that back-pumping is now used to compensate for the water used (50% lock volume per lock cycle)